Research involves

Research relevance

This research will lead to improved design in panels and shell structures.

Exploring Nonlinear Dynamics of Advanced Structures

Shell structures can be found in aircrafts, spacecrafts, rockets, cars, CDs and DVDs, submarines, boats, trains, and the human body, to name just a few. These structures are usually immersed in fluids: air or liquid.

Interaction between these thin-walled shell structures and fluids may give rise to large-amplitude vibrations and instability, which need to be controlled to prevent the shell’s failure. Fluid-structure interactions in aerospace applications are particularly challenging, since they involve new materials with lesser-known properties.

As Canada Research Chair in Vibrations and Fluid-Structure Interaction, Dr. Marco Amabili studies nonlinear dynamics (the study of how a small change in one variable can lead to a large, systemic change) and stability, fluid-structure interactions, and active control of shell structures, particularly for aeronautical and underwater vehicles.

The increasing need to produce lighter-weight aerospace shell structures has led to the use of advanced material systems and the demand for new design methods to guide product development. Amabili is seeking to develop solutions to open problems in the nonlinear dynamics of shell structures through groundbreaking innovations in experimental, theoretical and numerical techniques.

His work also seeks to merge branches of research that have in the past developed separately (e.g., nonlinear dynamics of aerospace and underwater vehicles), but that have many problems in common.